Attachment, experiential avoidance, and mindfulness in the narrative disclosure task
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Research on expressive writing (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986) has demonstrated psychological, physiological, and occupational benefits of writing about traumatic events, with many recent studies examining the moderating role of individual difference variables (Frattaroli, 2006). The present study examined the relationship of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance (as measured by the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire) to changes in mindfulness and experiential avoidance (as measured by the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire) following narrative writing for participants who write about traumatic versus emotionally neutral topics. It was predicted that attachment avoidance would be significantly positively related to increases in mindfulness four to eight weeks after writing about traumatic events, and that attachment anxiety would be significantly positively related to increases in mindfulness four to eight weeks after writing about emotionally neutral events. Associations between attachment variables and mindfulness variables at baseline, as well as interactions of attachment variables with linguistic characteristics of narratives as predictors of changes in mindfulness and experiential avoidance, were also examined. Three hundred twenty-six undergraduate students completed self-report measures of attachment, experiential avoidance, and mindfulness before writing for twenty minutes on one of two assigned topics on three consecutive days. Two hundred thirty-two participants agreed to a voluntary follow-up and completed post-task self-report measures four to eight weeks later. As predicted, attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were significantly positively correlated with higher levels of experiential avoidance and lower levels of mindfulness at baseline. However, multiple regression analyses showed that in general, interactions of attachment variables with writing condition were not predictive of mindfulness outcomes. Multiple regressions revealed that both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety predict increased experiential avoidance and decreased mindfulness for participants, especially women, who use increasingly higher frequencies of attachment-related words in their narratives. The present study suggests that healthy, young adult participants with secure attachment gain more in mindfulness following expressive writing than do young adults with more insecure attachment, and there is little evidence for matching participants to writing topics based on attachment style. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University
License
This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.